Smart air ventilation system

ABSTRACT

A system to control energy consumption in a building having a plurality of rooms with a wireless data transceiver; an occupancy sensor; a temperature sensor; a processor coupled to the wireless data transceiver, the occupancy sensor and the temperature sensor; and an air register including a motor coupled to the processor, the motor opening or closing one or more air vents in response to sensed motion or room temperature.

This invention is a continuation in part of application Ser. No.11/832,697 filed Aug. 2, 2007 and Ser. No. 11/768,381, filed Jun. 26,2007 which claims priority from Provisional Application Ser. No.60/939,856, filed May 24, 2007, the contents of which are incorporatedby reference.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to methods and systems for an airventilation system.

Many building owners, including the owners of apartments, offices andhotels, continue to seek methods to decrease their heating, ventilatingand cooling (“HVAC”) expenses. One method to do so is to select minimumand maximum setback temperatures for a room when the room is notoccupied. Motion detection devices have been used to determine if theroom is occupied and thus being used. Motion detectors have also beenused as intrusion detection devices, or surveillance systems, have beendeveloped to monitor an area or space, to protect against the entry ofunauthorized personnel into that area or space, and to provide an alarmsignal when such entry occurs.

Motion sensors can be based on sonic or ultrasonic/acoustical detectors,photoelectric break-beam devices, passive infrared detectors, videosystems, and radar or microwave-based systems. The sonic, ultrasonic oracoustical devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,499,564,4,382,291, 4,229,811 and 4,639,902. In the devices disclosed in thesepatents the intrusion detection systems utilize an acoustical signal,either sonic or ultrasonic, which is transmitted into the space to beprotected. The acoustical signal is reflected off of objects in thespace or the walls forming the perimeter of the space and is collectedby an acoustical receiver. The return signal represents the totalreflected energy pattern for that space. A change in the signal receivedindicates some change in the space protected; however, these systems donot provide any means of identifying where, either directionally ordistance-wise, in the protected space that the change has occurred.Thus, the only information derivable from such systems is whether or notsuch a change has occurred which then requires some form of follow-up bythe security force. An additional limitation of systems of this type isthat they are generally unacceptable in anything but a closedenvironment since they are subject to false alarms from naturallyoccurring sound changes such as generated by wind, thunder, or othernaturally occurring sounds in an open environment.

The photoelectric break-beam devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos.3,875,403, 4,239,961, 4,310,756, 4,384,280 and 4,514,625. In the devicesdisclosed, the intrusion detection system uses an active photo-beamprojected into the area under surveillance. A detector sees thecontinuous beam at the opposite end of the detection zone. If thephoto-beam is broken by an intruder, then an alarm is sounded. This typeof system does not give any information above the distance of theintruder from the detector device. This system also requires two headunits with the protection zone between them. This leads to a morecomplex installation than if only one unit is required.

Passive infrared detection technology is illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos.3,476,946, 3,476,947, 3,476,948 and 3,475,608. With systems such asthese, changes in the infrared content of the light received by thedevice from the area under control is monitored and an alarm signal isgenerated if the infrared content changes. This is based on thepresumption that the infrared content of the light will be affected byintruders, particularly individuals, entering into the controlled space.However, it has been found that such infrared detectors are falselytriggered by normal changes in the infrared content of the light in aspace due to ordinary changes in the sun as well as the effects ofclouds passing over the sun. Still further, such systems do not providedistance or direction information and thus require follow-up by securitystaff to determine the true nature of the cause that triggered thealarm.

The video based intrusion detection systems utilize a video camera toview an area under protection and are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos.3,823,261; 3,932,703 and 4,408,224. Typically, the video signal isdigitized and stored in a memory. Thereafter, the video signal iscompared with a reference signal stored in the memory and, when adifference is detected, an alarm is sounded. These systems use changesin scene illumination to determine an alarm condition rather thanchanges in object distances and therefore, unless the space to beobserved and protected is carefully controlled and isolated from changesin environmental illumination, such changes will result in false alarms.As a result, such a system is less than satisfactory for exteriorspaces. Furthermore, the amount of data that is necessarily stored toobtain reasonable resolution of the image of the space being protectedrequires a significant quantity of expensive computer memory.

Systems employing radar or other microwave technology are illustrated inU.S. Pat. No. 4,197,537. In this particular system a single microwavesignal source is used to bathe the space with microwave energy. Areceiver detects the return signal reflected from the space beingprotected which can be compared with a reference signal to detect anintrusion thereinto. This particular system is unable to identify theprecise location of the intruder.

While other radar/microwave-based systems can provide such information,their cost can be significant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,911 discloses ascanning intrusion detection device that is capable of monitoring alarge volume of either interior or exterior space from a singlerelatively inexpensive unit. This intrusion detection device has aradiation emitter arranged to scan a beam of infrared radiation about afield of view and means for receiving the radiation of the beamreflected from the field of view. The receiver is arranged to generate asignal indicative of the distance from the device at which the beam hasbeen reflected for each of a plurality of azimuthal sectors of the fieldof view during a selected time period. The device stores a plurality ofreference signals which are indicative of the distance of reflection ofthe beam from each azimuthal sector of the field of view during areference time period. The signals from a selected time period arecompared with the reference signals and an output signal is generated ifone of the signals is different from the respective reference signal.

In a home, a central thermostat tells the heating or cooling system toturn on. Hot or cool air is pumped throughout the home until the centralthermostat reaches the temperature you have selected. However, homes arecomposed of large and small rooms each with different windows, ductwork,and environments. Achieving a desired temperature in one room may causeanother room to be over-heated or overcooled. Further, these systems donot automatically close air vents for rooms that are unused to conserveenergy.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, a system to control energy consumption in a buildinghaving a plurality of rooms with a wireless data transceiver; anoccupancy sensor; a temperature sensor; a processor coupled to thewireless data transceiver, the occupancy sensor and the temperaturesensor; and an air register including a motor coupled to the processor,the motor opening or closing one or more air vents in response to sensedmotion or room temperature.

Implementations of the above aspect may include one or more of thefollowing. The air register is closed when the room is empty. A smartmeter includes bi-directional communication, power measurement andmanagement capability, software-controllable disconnect switch, andcommunication over low voltage power line. A thermostat can set roomtemperature. The thermostat wirelessly communicates with the datatransceiver. The processor communicates with an online weather servicefor predicted weather condition. The processor pre-charges roomtemperature in response to a demand response signal or a predeterminedpattern. The processor minimizes operating cost by shifting energy useto an off-peak period in response to utility pricing that varies energycost by time of day. An energy harvester can power the system. Theenergy harvester can be a solar cell or a piezoelectric device thatcaptures vibrational energy. A heating ventilation air conditioning(HVAC) device can be driven by a rechargeable energy reservoir, whereinthe reservoir is charged during a utility off-peak period and used topower the HVAC device during a utility peak pricing period. A voicerecognizer can be used to interpret user commands, such as a HiddenMarkov Model (HMM) recognizer, a dynamic time warp (DTW) recognizer, aneural network, a fuzzy logic engine, a Bayesian network. The occupancysensor can include an analyzer to process an RSSI signal from thewireless data transceiver to detect occupancy in the area. A lightemitting diode can be used to detect light, wherein the processordetermines lighting profiles that incorporate time-based control withoccupancy, daylighting, and manual control and wherein the processorintegrates time-based lighting control with occupancy sensing control. Aheater, cooler, fan can be placed proximal to the air vent. A filter canbe used to remove smoke contaminants from the air. One or more scentchemical reservoirs can deliver predetermined fragrance to the airfilter. In another embodiment, the chemicals can be used with a stereosystem and a display to provide an immersive virtual reality experience.For example, the virtual reality can be an ocean environment where thedisplay shows gentle ocean waves, the stereo can play ocean sounds, andthe fan/chemical reservoirs can deliver an ocean breeze sensation.

In another aspect, a system to control energy consumption in a room usesa wireless mesh network that allows for continuous connections andreconfiguration around blocked paths by hopping from node to node untila connection can be established, the mesh network including one or morewireless area network transceivers adapted to communicate data with thewireless mesh network, the transceiver detecting motion by analyzingreflected wireless signal strength.

In yet another aspect, an occupancy sensing system for an area includesone or more wireless nodes forming a wireless mesh network; and wirelesstransceiver adapted to communicate with the one or more wireless nodes,the wireless transceiver generating a received signal strengthindication (RSSI) signal, wireless transceiver including an analyzer toprocess the RSSI signal to detect occupancy in the area.

In yet another aspect, a system includes a processor; a transceivercoupled to the processor and communicating an RSSI signal to indicatethe presence of one or more persons in a room; and a light emittingdiode (LED) coupled to the processor, the LED generating light in afirst mode and sensing room light in a second mode.

Implementations of the above system may include one or more of thefollowing. An appliance can be controlled by the transceiver, theappliance being activated or deactivated in response to sensed motion inthe room based on the reflected wireless signal strength. A recognizercan be embedded in the transceiver including one of: a Hidden MarkovModel (HMM) recognizer, a dynamic time warp (DTW) recognizer, a neuralnetwork, a fuzzy logic engine, a Bayesian network. The recognizermonitors one or more personally identifiable signatures. The transceiveridentifies one person from another based on a Doppler heart ratesignature. A sound transducer can be connected with the wirelesstransceiver to communicate audio over a telephone network through themesh network. A call center or a receptionist or a person in a company'sfacility department can be connected to the transceiver to provide ahuman response such as a voice response to a question, or the callcenter can remotely turn off the appliance if appropriate. An in-doorpositioning system can be connected to one or more mesh networkappliances to provide location information. The transceiver can be aDoppler radar. A wireless router can be connected to the mesh networkand wherein the wireless router comprises one of: 802.11 router, 802.16router, WiFi router, WiMAX router, Bluetooth router, X10 router. Thetransceiver can be a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceivercoupled to a plurality of MIMO antennas. The MIMO transceiver canoperate as a Doppler radar. The transceiver transmits a pattern ofpredetermined varying burst widths and determines motion based on thereceived pattern of predetermined varied burst widths. A smart meter cancontrol or communicate with the appliance. The smart meter includesbi-directional communication, power measurement and managementcapability, software-controllable disconnect switch, and communicationover low voltage power line. A remote processor such as a processor in adifferent room or a different building can remotely turn power on or offfor the appliance, read usage information from the meter, detect aservice outage, detect the unauthorized use of electricity, change themaximum amount of electricity that the appliance can demand, andremotely change the meters billing plan from credit to prepay as well asfrom flat-rate to multi-tariff. The appliance minimizes operating costby shifting energy use to an off-peak period in response to utilitypricing that varies energy cost by time of day. A rechargeable energyreservoir can provide power to the appliance, wherein the reservoir ischarged during a utility off-peak period and used during a utility peakpricing period. The appliance's operation is customized to eachindividual's preference. The appliance's operation can be customized toa plurality of individuals in a room by clusterizing all preferences anddetermining a best fit preference from all preferences. The mesh networkcan store and analyze personal information including one of: heart rate,respiration rate, medicine taking habits, eating and drinking habits,sleeping habits, excise habits. In a Doppler radar embodiment, thefrequency of a radio signal is altered when the signal reflects off of amoving object. In one embodiment, the movement of people is detected. Inanother embodiment, the periodic movement of the chest and internalorgans of the person modulates an incident or transmitted radio signalfrom one of the wireless transceivers, and the resulting reflection isinterpreted to deduce, for example, heart and breathing activity.Transceivers that operate at high frequencies can be used to providehigher resolution and improved antenna patterns could be used for moredetailed observations of arterial motion.

In other implementations, a light emitting diode (LED) can be connectedto the wireless transceiver, the LED having a first mode to generatelight and a second mode to generate a voltage based on ambient light. Ananalog to digital (ADC) converter such as a sigma delta converter canread an output from the LED corresponding to ambient light in the area.The analyzer identifies one occupant from another based on a Dopplersignature. The mesh network communicates lighting profiles thatincorporate time-based control with occupancy, day-lighting, and manualcontrol and wherein the analyzer integrates time-based lighting controlwith occupancy sensing control. The LED can sense sound in a third mode.The processor integrates time-based lighting control, sound detectioncontrol and occupancy sensing control.

Advantages of preferred embodiments of the system may include one ormore of the following. The systems automatically close air vents forrooms that are unused to conserve energy. The system manages the climateof individual rooms in the home or office with ease. The system signalsthe vent to close when there is no occupant or when the desiredtemperature is reached. When the room is occupied, the system opens thevents to allow additional heating or cooling. The system automaticallyzones the home, allowing the user to set the desired temperature in aroom and automatically have the vent shut when the temperature isreached or when the room is empty.

In addition to comfort, the system redistributes hot or cold air toother rooms allowing the home to reach its set temperature in a moreefficient manner—reducing utility bills. With the vent automaticallyclosed at the desired temperature or when the room is unoccupied, theheating or cooling that would have been wasted in one room isautomatically redirected to the remaining rooms in the home.

In one implementation, the system provides motion sensing practicallyfor free by simply adding software to each wireless transceiver andavoids extra hardware such as PIRs or photocells to detect people in aroom, among others. The same wireless transceiver for controlling theappliance is used to sense motion and thus the cost is virtually free.

Other advantages may include one or more of the following. The systemprovides links between information technologies and electricity deliverythat give industrial, commercial and residential consumers greatercontrol over when and how their energy is delivered and used. The systemprovides wireless metering capability measurable to each device orappliance. Additionally, real-time electricity pricing information isused to optimize cost. The system links devices starting with theutility meter and reaches thermostats, household appliances, HVAC, poolpumps, water heaters, lighting systems and other household or buildingsystems that are part of the home area network (HAN). The systemprovides a standards based approach to energy efficiency programs suchas demand response, time-of-use pricing programs, energy monitoring,pay-as-you-use and net metering programs, enabling home owners use ofdistributed generation products like solar panels. These new energymanagement capabilities directly impact consumers and businesses asutilities grapple with meeting growing power demand while reducing thethreat of rolling blackouts during peak usage periods. With the system,users can: view and react to energy consumption every day; track andadjust energy consumption; plan, budget and pre-pay their utilitiesbills; save energy and money based on price fluctuations; enhanceconservation by using less energy during peak demands; and help theenvironment by helping consumers reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughless energy usage. Thus, the system can save on HVAC costs, which can be30-50% of a building's energy use.

The system can also save on lighting costs. Lighting commercialbuildings in the United States currently consumes about 3.7 quadrillionBtus (British thermal units) of primary energy a year, equivalent to theoutput of over 175 modern power plants. Lighting accounts for 30 to 50%of a building's energy use, or about 17% of total annual US electricityconsumption. Simply turning off unneeded lights can reduce directlighting energy consumption up to 45%. Reducing lighting electricityusage reduces energy cost and lessens the environmental impactsassociated with electricity generation. The system enables buildings toautomatically dim electric lights in daylit spaces, and buildingoccupants could manually dim local lighting according to preference, theU.S. energy savings could amount to more than half a quadrillion Btusper year—about 14 percent of annual energy use for lighting incommercial buildings.

Other advantages of RF wireless control include reduced capital andoperating expenses. Wireless control can save as much as 30 to 40percent on installation and material costs compared to a wired controlsystem, making this option potentially attractive for retrofit as wellas new construction. Maintenance expenses can be reduced because devicescan be replaced one to one without control wiring being involved. Asanother potential benefit, RF wireless control offers flexibilitycentered on the mobility of devices, which can be moved and groupedbased on evolving application needs without changing wiring. Wirelesscontrol systems are scalable, as devices can be added and removedeasily. Based on adoption of open protocols, lighting control systemscan be more easily integrated with other building systems such as HVACand security. Intelligence can be both centralized and decentralized,with devices receiving commands from a central computer (and sendinginformation back in a two-way stream), while also interacting with eachother independently and allowing occupant control of local systemswithout location restraints. With wireless components, the system cangrow over time and be reconfigured if needed at a much lower cost for ahard-wired system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a wireless area network (WAN) that provides occupancy ormotion sensing.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary process for sensing occupancy or motion usinga WAN transceiver.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary transceiver circuit.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary transceiver operating as a Doppler radar.

FIG. 5 shows a MIMO transceiver operating as a Doppler radar.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary LED ambient light sensor.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary LED based microphone to detect sound in theroom.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary mesh network in communication with theoccupancy sensing system.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary mesh network.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary smart air vent or air register.

FIG. 11 shows a cross-sectional view of the register of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12A-D shows exemplary electronics controlling the air register ofFIG. 10.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary solar powered air vent.

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary air vent with heater/cooler and fan.

FIG. 15A shows an exemplary air vent with filter, while FIG. 15B showsan exemplary air vent with scent control.

DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of theinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with thepreferred embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intendedto limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, theinvention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications andequivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in thefollowing detailed description of the present invention, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious toone of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well knownmethods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described indetail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a wireless area network that provides motion sensing. Awireless communication transceiver 10 is mounted in a room such as nearan entrance. The transceiver 10 includes a sensor to determine whetherthe room is empty or being used by at least one person 12. The sensorcan be implemented in software to provide the motion sensing at a verylow cost. A plurality of transceivers 10 form a mesh network 22, whichis a communications network having two or more paths to any node. Meshnetworking is a way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes.It allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around blockedpaths by “hopping” from node to node until a connection can beestablished. The transceiver 10 can be an 802.15 (ZigBee) transceiver,but can also be 802.11 (WiFi) transceiver, 802.16 (WiMAX) transceiver,Bluetooth transceiver, cellular transceiver, or cordless telephonetransceiver, among others. The transceiver 10 wirelessly communicateswith one or more appliances 20 using the mesh network 22. Thetransceiver 10 controls one or more appliances 20 directly, oralternatively, can send a message to a host device that controls theappliances 20.

In this embodiment, a wireless device such as transceiver 10 transmits aradio frequency (RF) signal and listens for RF signal bouncing back fromthe walls and other paths. The RF signal is measured as a ReceivedSignal Strength Indicator or Indication (RSSI). The RSSI signal orcircuit indicates the strength of the incoming (received) signal in areceiver. RSSI is often done in the IF stage before the IF amplifier. Inzero-IF systems, it is done in the baseband signal chain, before thebaseband amplifier. RSSI output is often a DC analog level. It can alsobe sampled by an internal ADC and the resulting codes available directlyor via peripheral or internal processor bus.

Signal strength across the RF link varies because of the indoormulti-path environment. A mixture of direct and reflected signal pathsresults in a time-varying fading characteristic. The RSSI measurementstherefore vary in time and follow a statistical model depending on theproportion of direct and indirect rays in the environment. Sinceup-fades vary less than downfades, a peak-holding algorithm provides areasonable estimate of average RSSI (FIG. 4) for two static nodesmeasuring a mobile node crossing at a cell boundary. Due to fadingvariations there is a 5 dB variability in peak-signal strength, whichcan be controlled by filtering and hysteresis thresholds.

Based on the RSSI signal, the transceiver detects whether the room isoccupied. This is done using only the wireless transceiver circuitrywithout dedicated sensors such as PIR sensors. The transceiver can thenperform time-based control as well as sensor based control. Intime-based control, lighting circuits are all routed through a controlcircuit that switches power on/off based upon preset time schedules orastronomical clocks. In sensor-based control, the control circuit orrelays that are integrated into sensors or stand-alone relay (power)packs control the power to individual lights or circuits based uponoccupancy and/or daylight.

FIG. 2 shows a process executed by the transceiver 10 to determinemotion. In one embodiment, the motion sensing is based on an averageReceive Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) signal. In this embodiment,the transceiver 10 is positioned near the entrance and monitors the RSSIsignal. When a person is in the room or otherwise is positioned near theantenna of the transceiver 10, the RSSI signal changes in value and thetransceiver 10 can detect motion using the RSSI strength as follows:

Measure a base RSSI level for an empty room base configuration andcalibrate system for different parts of the day (40) Optionally powerdown transceiver to save energy (42) Loop Periodically wake uptransceiver (44) Measure RSSI signal and compare against base RSSI level(46) If RSSI differs from base RSSI level, then set motion detected flagto true and turn on appliance for a predetermined period in response tothe detected motion (48) Process other operations (50) Optionally powerdown transceiver (52) End Loop

The processor for sensing the RSSI can be turned on all the time, oralternatively, can be powered down and periodically be woken up to sensemotion. One embodiment measures base RSSI level at different times ofthe day to improve the accuracy of the motion detection. The RSSI levelcan change during the day due to periodic fades occurring during hoursof the day when the transceivers are affected by solar radiation orother issues. The base RSSI level can be used to handle transmittervariability. Different transmitters behave differently even when theyare configured exactly in the same way. When a transmitter is configuredto send packets at a power level then the transmitter will send thesepackets at a power level that is close to that power level but notnecessarily equal and this can alter the received signal strengthindication and thus it can lead to inaccuracies. The system alsoaccounts for receiver variability: The sensitivity of the receiversacross different radio chips is different. In practice, this means thatthe RSSI value recorded at different receivers can be different evenwhen all the other parameters that affect the received signal strengthare kept constant. The base RSSI level takes into consideration theantenna orientation: Each antenna has its own radiation pattern that isnot uniform. In practice, this means that the RSSI value recorded at thereceiver for a given pair of communicating nodes and for a givendistance between them varies as the pair wise antenna orientations ofthe transmitter and the receiver are changed. Multi-path fading andshadowing in the RF channel are also accounted for. In indoorenvironments the transmitted signals get reflected after hitting on thewalls and/or on other objects in the room such as furniture. Both theoriginal signal and the reflected signal reach the receiver almost atthe same time since they both travel at the speed of light. As a resultof this, the receiver is not able to distinguish the two signals and itmeasures the received signal strength for both.

The system can use a plurality of transceivers in a room thatcoordinates with each other to detect motion more accurately by coveringspecific areas. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a transceiver 10mounted near the room entrance and share information with a transceiver10 mounted on the opposite side of the room can cooperate to improve themotion sensing process. Since the transceiver 10 performs the motionsensing in software by examining its received signal strength, themotion sensing is implemented at a cost that is nearly zero since onlycode is loaded into the transceiver 10 in contrast to conventionalsolutions that require additional costly hardware such as a trip sensorusing LED and photosensors or alternatively a Passive Infrared Receivers(PIRs) to detect motion. For the multi-transceiver embodiment, eachtransceiver 10 can detect motion, and the collective intelligence fromall transceivers in the network can be applied to optimize powerconsumption of the appliances. In the multiple transceiverconfiguration, each transceiver is already provided in wireless enabledappliance, so the enhanced accuracy of the multi-transceiver embodimentis achieved without additional hardware cost.

For higher accuracy, other schemes can be used such as time-of-flight;angle-of-arrival techniques. The transmitter sends pulses of knownduration and intensity. This is accomplished by synchronizing the clocksof the transmitter and receiver. If the transmitter sends data at aknown clock cycle, and the receiver gets it at another clock cycle, adistance calculation can be made. The transmitter works continuously atlow power, and at 2.4 GHz a 2.5 foot distance resolution can beobtained. To capture the angle of arrival information, the receiver hasmultiple patch antennas with a plurality of rake fingers which integratethe signal from different sources using a modified CDMA detectionprocess. Prompt, late, early entries received by the rake fingers arecorrelated to determine arrival angles, not only different multipathconditions. In one embodiment, the system can be set to provideOccupancy Sensor Time Delays, Switch Operation (Manual/Automatic On),Enable/Disable Microphone Occupancy Sensor/Door Sensor/Other Sensor,Custom Device Names, Photocell Setup & Control, 2-Pole Device Settings,Dimming Limits, Remote Firmware Upgrades. The system can also OverrideLights ON/OFF, Scheduled ON/OFF, Auto-ON/OFF with Occupancy, ManualON/OFF via Local Switch, Auto-Dim via LED Sensing, Auto-ON/OFF via LEDSensing, Auto-ON/OFF with Astronomical Clock, Increase Dim LevelDecrease Dim Level. The system can also schedule (date/hour/minute)changes to any setting or control mode with convenient recurrencepatterns: daily, weekly, weekdays, weekends, etc. Preset and CustomDevice Groups selection enable quick programming of zones. The systemalso provides automatic Daylight Savings Adjustment.

Lobby

-   -   Auto-ON with first occupant    -   Permanent ON (no OFFs due to Vacancy) during working hours    -   Photocell overrides lights OFF during peak daylight    -   Return to occupancy-based control during non-working hours

Private Office

-   -   Custom time delays based on occupant requirements    -   Lumen maintenance through ceiling dimming photosensor    -   User-selected dim levels

Open Office

-   -   Requires first morning occupant to initiate Lights ON    -   Permanent ON status during working hours    -   Standard occupancy control during evening non-working hours    -   Short time delays during late night guard walk through

Restroom

-   -   2-Pole sensor controls light and fan separately    -   Light turns OFF shortly after vacancy; fan runs for extended        time    -   Varying time delay periods for working vs. non-working hours in        order to maintain lamp life while maximizing energy savings

Retail Floor

-   -   Occupancy control during early morning stocking hours    -   Lights are on Time-of-Day/Day-of-Week schedule during store        hours    -   Occupancy control during evening cleaning hours    -   Occupancy sensors automatically accommodate special late night        sales without reprogramming system

Classroom

-   -   System accommodates inboard/outboard switching (A/B)    -   Stepped dimming or continuous dimming with local set-point        control    -   Dual Technology (PDT) during class hours, single technology        (PIR) and shortened time delays during cleaning periods

Parking Garage/Lot

-   -   Astronomical dawn and dusk times available    -   Photocell override during daylight hours    -   All lights extinguished during times when garage is closed

In one embodiment, each person's heartbeat is a virtual fingerprint thatcan be used to identify one person from another person in the house. Asdiscussed above, suitable statistical recognizers such as Hidden MarkovModel (HMM) recognizers, neural network, fuzzy recognizer, dynamic timewarp (DTW) recognizer, a Bayesian network, or a Real Analytical ConstantModulus Algorithm (RACMA) recognizer, among others can be used todistinguish one person's heartbeat from another. This technique allowsthe system to track multiple people in a residence at once.Additionally, three or more transceivers can be positioned in theresidence so that their position can be determined throughtriangulation. The positional data, heart rate, and breathingrate/respiration rate, as well as change delta for each, can be datamined to determine the user's daily activity patterns. A Hidden MarkovModel (HMM) recognizer, a dynamic time warp (DTW) recognizer, a neuralnetwork, a fuzzy logic engine, or a Bayesian network can be applied tothe actual or the difference/change for a particular signal, for examplethe heart rate or breathing rate, to determine the likelihood of astroke attack in one embodiment.

Substantially any type of learning system or process may be employed todetermine the user's ambulatory and living patterns so that unusualevents can be flagged.

In one embodiment, clustering operations are performed to detectpatterns in the data. In another embodiment, a neural network is used torecognize each pattern as the neural network is quite robust atrecognizing user habits or patterns. Once the treatment features havebeen characterized, the neural network then compares the input userinformation with stored templates of treatment vocabulary known by theneural network recognizer, among others. The recognition models caninclude a Hidden Markov Model (HMM), a dynamic programming model, aneural network, a fuzzy logic, or a template matcher, among others.These models may be used singly or in combination.

Dynamic programming considers all possible points within the permitteddomain for each value of i. Because the best path from the current pointto the next point is independent of what happens beyond that point.Thus, the total cost of [i(k), j(k)] is the cost of the point itselfplus the cost of the minimum path to it. Preferably, the values of thepredecessors can be kept in an M×N array, and the accumulated cost keptin a 2×N array to contain the accumulated costs of the immediatelypreceding column and the current column. However, this method requiressignificant computing resources. For the recognizer to find the optimaltime alignment between a sequence of frames and a sequence of nodemodels, it must compare most frames against a plurality of node models.One method of reducing the amount of computation required for dynamicprogramming is to use pruning. Pruning terminates the dynamicprogramming of a given portion of user habit information against a giventreatment model if the partial probability score for that comparisondrops below a given threshold. This greatly reduces computation.

Considered to be a generalization of dynamic programming, a hiddenMarkov model is used in the preferred embodiment to evaluate theprobability of occurrence of a sequence of observations O(1), O(2), . .. O(t), . . . , O(T), where each observation O(t) may be either adiscrete symbol under the VQ approach or a continuous vector. Thesequence of observations may be modeled as a probabilistic function ofan underlying Markov chain having state transitions that are notdirectly observable. In one embodiment, the Markov network is used tomodel a number of user habits and activities. The transitions betweenstates are represented by a transition matrix A=[a(i,j)]. Each a(i,j)term of the transition matrix is the probability of making a transitionto state j given that the model is in state i. The output symbolprobability of the model is represented by a set of functions B=[b(j)(O(t)], where the b(j) (O(t) term of the output symbol matrix is theprobability of outputting observation O(t), given that the model is instate j. The first state is always constrained to be the initial statefor the first time frame of the utterance, as only a prescribed set ofleft to right state transitions are possible. A predetermined finalstate is defined from which transitions to other states cannot occur.Transitions are restricted to reentry of a state or entry to one of thenext two states. Such transitions are defined in the model as transitionprobabilities. Although the preferred embodiment restricts the flowgraphs to the present state or to the next two states, one skilled inthe art can build an HMM model without any transition restrictions,although the sum of all the probabilities of transitioning from anystate must still add up to one. In each state of the model, the currentfeature frame may be identified with one of a set of predefined outputsymbols or may be labeled probabilistically. In this case, the outputsymbol probability b(j) O(t) corresponds to the probability assigned bythe model that the feature frame symbol is O(t). The model arrangementis a matrix A=[a(i,j)] of transition probabilities and a technique ofcomputing B=b(j) O(t), the feature frame symbol probability in state j.The Markov model is formed for a reference pattern from a plurality ofsequences of training patterns and the output symbol probabilities aremultivariate Gaussian function probability densities. The patient habitinformation is processed by a feature extractor. During learning, theresulting feature vector series is processed by a parameter estimator,whose output is provided to the hidden Markov model. The hidden Markovmodel is used to derive a set of reference pattern templates, eachtemplate representative of an identified pattern in a vocabulary set ofreference treatment patterns. The Markov model reference templates arenext utilized to classify a sequence of observations into one of thereference patterns based on the probability of generating theobservations from each Markov model reference pattern template. Duringrecognition, the unknown pattern can then be identified as the referencepattern with the highest probability in the likelihood calculator. TheHMM template has a number of states, each having a discrete value.However, because treatment pattern features may have a dynamic patternin contrast to a single value. The addition of a neural network at thefront end of the HMM in an embodiment provides the capability ofrepresenting states with dynamic values. The input layer of the neuralnetwork comprises input neurons. The outputs of the input layer aredistributed to all neurons in the middle layer. Similarly, the outputsof the middle layer are distributed to all output states, which normallywould be the output layer of the neuron. However, each output hastransition probabilities to itself or to the next outputs, thus forminga modified HMM. Each state of the thus formed HMM is capable ofresponding to a particular dynamic signal, resulting in a more robustHMM. Alternatively, the neural network can be used alone withoutresorting to the transition probabilities of the HMM architecture.

In one embodiment, the system can operate in a home, a nursing home, ora hospital. In this system, one or more mesh network appliances 8 areprovided to enable wireless communication in the home monitoring system.Appliances 8 in the mesh network can include home security monitoringdevices, door alarm, window alarm, home temperature control devices,fire alarm devices, among others. Appliances 8 in the mesh network canbe one of multiple portable physiological transducer, such as a bloodpressure monitor, heart rate monitor, weight scale, thermometer,spirometer, single or multiple lead electrocardiograph (ECG), a pulseoxymeter, a body fat monitor, a cholesterol monitor, a signal from amedicine cabinet, a signal from a drug container, a signal from acommonly used appliance such as a refrigerator/stove/oven/washer, or asignal from an exercise machine, such as a heart rate. For example,within a house, a user may have mesh network appliances that detectwindow and door contacts, smoke detectors and motion sensors, videocameras, key chain control, temperature monitors, CO and other gasdetectors, vibration sensors, and others. A user may have flood sensorsand other detectors on a boat. An individual, such as an ill or elderlygrandparent, may have access to a panic transmitter or other alarmtransmitter. Other sensors and/or detectors may also be included. Theuser may register these appliances on a central security network byentering the identification code for each registered appliance/deviceand/or system. The mesh network can be Zigbee network or 802.15 network.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary ZigBee version of the transceiver 10. In theblock diagram of a typical ZigBee communication transceiver, a wirelesscommunication transceiver has a BaseBand (BB) modem 100 that performsmodulation and demodulation using modulation and demodulation schemesdefined by the physical layer specifications of each standard, a RadioFrequency (RF) front-end block (or RF/analog block) 105 that converts adigital modulated signal, output from the modem, into an RF modulatedsignal and converts an RF modulated signal, received from an antenna110, into a digital modulated signal, and the antenna 110 thatwirelessly transmits and receives the RF modulated signal.

In the transmission operation of the RF front-end block 105, aDigital-Analog Converter (DAC) 115 converts a signal, digitallymodulated by the modem 100, into an analog modulated signal according tobit resolution corresponding to a selected standard, and a DirectCurrent (DC) component correction and Low-Pass Filter (LPF) unit 120removes a DC offset from the analog modulated signal output from the DAC115, and low-pass-filters the analog modulated signal to a bandwidthcorresponding to a selected transmission standard. Frequencyup-converters 125 and 130 up-convert the In-phase (I) component of theBB analog modulated signal, output from the DC component correction andLPF unit 120, and the Quadrature (Q) component thereof into an RF bandcorresponding to the selected transmission standard, and output I and QRF modulated signal components, respectively. The I and Q RF modulatedsignal components are combined together by an adder 135, and the outputof the adder 135 is amplified by a power amplifier 140. The RF modulatedsignal is output to the antenna 110 at transmission periods based on TDDthrough a transmission/reception switch 145. In this case, the RFmodulated signal passes through a Band-Pass Filter (BPF) 150 to allowout-of-band spurious signals to be removed therefrom.

In the reception operation of the RF front-end block 105, the RFmodulated signal, input from the antenna 110, is freed from out-of-bandspurious signals by the BPF 150, and is input to thetransmission/reception switch 145.

The transmission/reception switch 145 outputs the RF modulated signal,output from the power amplifier 140 of a transmission side, toward theantenna 110 through the BPF 150 at the intervals of transmission andreception, or inputs the RF modulated signal, received from the antenna110 and passed through the BPF 150, to the Low Noise Amplifier 170 of areception side.

The LNA 170 low-noise-amplifies an analog modulated signal (RF modulatedsignal) in an RF frequency band. The low-noise-amplified analogmodulated signal is down-converted into BB modulated signals byfrequency down-conversion mixers 175 and 180 with respect to the I and Qcomponents thereof. A low-pass filter and programmable gain amplifier185 low-pass-filters the down-converted BB band modulated signal tochannel bandwidth corresponding to the transmission standard andperforms BB amplification with respect to the I and Q components.

An Analog-Digital Converter (ADC) 190 converts the above-described BBsignal into a digital modulated signal according to a bit resolutioncorresponding to the selected transmission standard, and outputs thedigital modulated signal to the BB modem 100.

In regard to the generation of a carrier, a programmable divider 160diminishes a local oscillation frequency generated by an oscillator 155,and a frequency synthesizer 165 generates a carrier frequency using afrequency output from the programmable divider 160.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a wireless communication transceivercapable of performing radar sensing of people using Doppler techniques.Although the system is shown for ZigBee transceiver to minimize cost,systems based on WiMAX transceiver or WiFi transceiver can beimplemented as well. The embodiment of FIG. 4 is similar to theembodiment of FIG. 1, but with separate transmit antenna 110 and receiveantenna 111 and separate bandpass filters 150 and 151, respectively. Theseparate transmit and receive circuitry allows Doppler detection of thereflected signals. In the Doppler radar phenomenon, the frequency of aradio signal is altered when the signal reflects off of a moving object.In one embodiment, the movement of people is detected. In anotherembodiment, the periodic movement of the chest and internal organs ofthe person modulates an incident or transmitted radio signal from one ofthe wireless transceivers, and the resulting reflection is interpretedto deduce the presence of a person. The reflection can capture fineresolution information about the person who is in range of thetransceiver 10. The information can include, for example, heart andbreathing activity. Transceivers that operate at high frequencies can beused to provide higher resolution and improved antenna patterns could beused for more detailed observations of arterial motion. The improvedarterial motion pattern can be used to distinguish one person fromanother person using Hidden Markov Model recognizers in one embodiment.

In another embodiment, two separate wireless conventional ZigBee devicesare used: one as a transmitter and the other one as a receiver. Separatetransmit and receive antennas perform transmission and receptionsimultaneously. Each wireless adapter can be an 802.15 (ZigBee) adapterthat can be wall mounted or placed on suitable furniture. The localoscillators of the adapters are synchronized by providing a commoncrystal reference to the LO synthesizers in both chip sets. The basebandoutput of the receiver adapter is prefiltered with a low-pass RC filterwith a cut-off frequency of about 100 Hz in one embodiment to remove outof band noise and avoid aliasing error. The pre-filtered signal isdigitized and used to calculate heart rate. The digitized signal is theadditionally filtered in the digital domain to separate the heart andbreathing signals. To determine heart rate, an autocorrelation functionwas calculated for the heart signal. The periodicity of theautocorrelation function is used to determine the heart rate. A filtercan also be applied to extract breathing rate from the digitized signal.

Another embodiment shown in FIG. 5 uses a multiple input, multipleoutput (MIMO) wireless adapter chip set. The inventor contemplates thatthe adapter can be ZigBee adapter, but also be 802.11 (WiFi), 802.16(WiMAX), Bluetooth adapters, cell phones, or cordless telephones.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a wirelesscommunication device that uses a MIMO radio 60 as a Doppler radar todetect people and/or organ movement such as heart beat detection. Radio60 includes a host interface 62, a baseband processing module 64, memory66, a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transmitters 68-72, atransmit/receive (T/R) module 74, a plurality of antennas 82-86, aplurality of RF receivers 76-80, and a local oscillation module 100. Thebaseband processing module 64, in combination with operationalinstructions stored in memory 66, execute digital receiver functions anddigital transmitter functions, respectively. The digital receiverfunctions include, but are not limited to, digital intermediatefrequency to baseband conversion, demodulation, constellation demapping,decoding, de-interleaving, fast Fourier transform, cyclic prefixremoval, space and time decoding, and/or descrambling. The digitaltransmitter functions include, but are not limited to, scrambling,encoding, interleaving, constellation mapping, modulation, inverse fastFourier transform, cyclic prefix addition, space and time encoding,and/or digital baseband to IF conversion. The baseband processingmodules 64 may be implemented using one or more processing devices. Sucha processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, fieldprogrammable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logiccircuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device thatmanipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on operationalinstructions. The memory 66 may be a single memory device or a pluralityof memory devices. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory,random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, staticmemory, dynamic memory, flash memory, and/or any device that storesdigital information. Note that when the processing module 64 implementsone or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry,digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory storing thecorresponding operational instructions is embedded with the circuitrycomprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry,and/or logic circuitry. A number of the RF transmitters 68-72 will beenabled to convert the outbound symbol streams 90 into outbound RFsignals 92. The transmit/receive module 74 receives the outbound RFsignals 92 and provides each outbound RF signal to a correspondingantenna 82-86. When the radio 60 is in the receive mode, thetransmit/receive module 74 receives one or more inbound RF signals viathe antennas 82-86. The T/R module 74 provides the inbound RF signals 94to one or more RF receivers 76-80. The RF receiver 76-80 converts theinbound RF signals 94 into a corresponding number of inbound symbolstreams 96. The baseband processing module 60 receives the inboundsymbol streams 90 and converts them into inbound data 98.

In one embodiment, the MIMO transceiver can also be a spread-spectrummicrowave motion sensor that can be co-located with other spectrum userswithout having to set a specific operating frequency.

The non-invasive measuring techniques can be enhanced by the attachmentof wireless sensors to critical locations on the body. The body sensortechnique allows the return or reflected signal to be more easilyisolated from radar clutter effects, and provides a means for sensingadditional data not easily derived from a radar signal, such as skintemperature. The body sensors can be as simple as conductive patchesthat attach to the back of badges and enhance the reflection of theincident radio signal at a particular location. Alternatively, the bodysensors are more complex frequency resonant structures, or evenoscillating or multiplying semiconductor circuits. Such circuits canalter the reflected radio signal in time and/or frequency, and canimpose additional modulated data, which is generated by, for example,skin temperature, bio-electric effects, re-radiated radar effects, andphysical acceleration.

A conducting surface will then reflect most of the energy from anincident radio wave. Placing such a surface or patch on a target area ofthe body, such as the chest or the skin over an artery, will enhance thereturn of the radar signal from that target area. As one skilled in theart will appreciate, if the physical dimensions of the conductingsurface are properly chosen, the path can act as an electricallyresonant antenna that provides an enhanced radar return.

In one embodiment, each person's personal information such as hearbeatis a virtual fingerprint that can be used to identify one person fromanother person in the house. As discussed above, suitable statisticalrecognizers such as Hidden Markov Model (HMM) recognizers, neuralnetwork, fuzzy recognizer, dynamic time warp (DTW) recognizer, aBayesian network, or a Real Analytical Constant Modulus Algorithm(RACMA) recognizer, among others can be used to distinguish one person'sheartbeat from another. This technique allows the system to trackmultiple people in a residence at once. Additionally, three or moretransceivers can be positioned in the residence so that their positioncan be determined through triangulation.

In one embodiment, a differential pulse Doppler motion sensor provides arange-invariant Doppler response within a range limited region, and noresponse outside the region. The transmitter transmits a sequence oftransmitted bursts of electromagnetic energy to produce a sensor field,the transmitted bursts having burst widths which vary according to apattern which cause responses to disturbance in the sensor field whichalso vary according to the pattern. For one example pattern, thetransmitted bursts are switched between a first burst width and a secondburst width at a pattern frequency. The receiver receives a combinationof the transmitted bursts and reflections of the transmitted bursts andproduces a combined output. Thus, the combined output indicates a mixingof the transmitted burst with its own reflection. The width of the burstdefines the range limit because any reflection which returns after theburst has ended, results in zero mixing.

In another implementation, the transmitter transmits the sequence oftransmitted bursts at a transmitter frequency with a burst repetitionrate. The transmitter frequency is on the order of gigaHertz, such asbetween 900 megaHertz and 24 gigaHertz, or for example between about 5and 6 gigaHertz. The burst repetition rate is on the order of megaHertz,such as for example 1-5 megaHertz, and more preferably 1-3 megaHertz. Aburst width control circuit controls the pattern of varying burst widthsby switching a burst widths of the transmitted bursts in the sequencebetween or among a plurality of burst widths according to a pattern. Thepattern has for example a characteristic pattern frequency on the orderof 10 kiloHertz to 100 kiloHertz. The pattern at which the burst widthsare varied can take on a variety of characteristics. In one system, theburst widths are switched between two different burst widths. In otherembodiments, the pattern may vary according to a sine wave, a trianglewave, a ramp signal, or a noise modulated signal for example.

Another embodiment is based upon the reflection of sound waves. Soundwaves are defined as longitudinal pressure waves in the medium in whichthey are travelling. Subjects whose dimensions are larger than thewavelength of the impinging sound waves reflect them; the reflectedwaves are called the echo. If the speed of sound in the medium is knownand the time taken for the sound waves to travel the distance from thesource to the subject and back to the source is measured, the distancefrom the source to the subject can be computed accurately. This is themeasurement principle of this embodiment. Here the medium for the soundwaves is air, and the sound waves used are ultrasonic, since it isinaudible to humans. Assuming that the speed of sound in air is 1100feet/second at room temperature and that the measured time taken for thesound waves to travel the distance from the source to the subject andback to the source is t seconds, the distance d is computed by theformula d=1100×12×t inches. Since the sound waves travel twice thedistance between the source and the subject, the actual distance betweenthe source and the subject will be d/2. The devices used to transmit andreceive the ultrasonic sound waves in this application are 40-kHzceramic ultrasonic transducers. The processor drives the transmittertransducer with a 12-cycle burst of 40-kHz square-wave signal derivedfrom the crystal oscillator, and the receiver transducer receives theecho. A timer is configured to count the 40-kHz crystal frequency suchthat the time measurement resolution is 25 μs. The echo received by thereceiver transducer is amplified by an operational amplifier and theamplified output is fed to a comparator input. The comparator senses thepresence of the echo signal at its input and triggers a capture of thetimer count value to capture a compare register. The capture is doneexactly at the instant the echo arrives at the system. The capturedcount is the measure of the time taken for the ultrasonic burst totravel the distance from the system to the subject and back to thesystem. The distance in inches from the system to the subject iscomputed using this measured time and displayed on a two-digit staticLCD. Immediately after updating the display, the processor goes to sleepmode to save power and is periodically woken by another time every 205milliseconds to repeat the measurement cycle and update the display.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary LED ambient light sensor. The LED is aphotodiode that is sensitive to light at and above the wavelength thatwhich it emits (barring any filtering effects of a colored plasticpackage). Under reverse bias conditions, a simple model for the LED is acapacitor in parallel with a current source which models the opticallyinduced photocurrent. The system measures the photocurrent. One way tomake a photodetector out of an LED is to tie the anode to ground andconnect the cathode to a CMOS I/O pin driven high. This reverse biasesthe diode, and charges the capacitance. Next switch the I/O pin to inputmode, which allows the photocurrent to discharge the capacitance down tothe digital input threshold. By timing how long this takes, thephotocurrent can be measure to determine the amount of incident light.The microprocessor interface technique uses one additional digital I/Opin, but no other additional components compared to those need to simplylight the LED. Since the circuit draws only microwatts of power, it hasa minimal impact on battery life.

In one embodiment, the LED blinks very fast, and then ambient light isdetected when the LED is off. The LED is connected to general IO portGP0 with a resistor between the LED and GP1. When GP0 is high, and GP1is low, will it conduct, and emit light. When the GP0 is low, and GP1 ishigh, then the LED is off. The LED is charged to −5V across it, and whenthe GP1 turns into tri-state and goes low, and the time depends oncapacity and on current in LED. A 16-bit Sigma Delta ADC is used todetect the voltage output of the LED when it is off. The voltage outputis proportional to the amount of light in the room and can be used toturn on/off room lighting or other peripherals.

FIG. 6A shows the “Emitting” mode where current is driven in the forwarddirection, lighting the LED. FIG. 6B shows “Reverse Bias” mode, whichcharges the capacitance and prepares the system for measurement. Theactual measurement is made in “Discharge” mode shown in FIG. 6 c. Sincethe current flowing into a CMOS input is extremely small, the low valuecurrent limiting resistor has little impact on the voltage seen at theinput pin. The system times how long it takes for the photocurrent todischarge the capacitance to the pin's digital input threshold. Theresult is a simple circuit that can switch between emitting andreceiving light. Because the circuit changes required to provide thisbidirectional communication feature consist of only one additional I/Opin, adding the light sensor is essentially free.

In one embodiment, a TI MSP430F20x3 microcontroller is used to drive anLED. The LED is used both as an indicator or night light and an ambientroom light sensor. The voltage generated by the LED is measured using abuilt-in 16 bit sigma delta converter. A LED voltage reading is obtainedevery 200 ms. Based on predefined “Min” and “Max” reference values, theactive duty cycle for lighting ballasts is adjusted according to thecurrent light conditions. The darker the ambient light is, the more theballasts will be set so that room will be illuminated. Themicrocontroller/LED is exposed to darkness for a short moment in orderto calibrate the LED's offset voltage. A very low frequency oscillator(VLO) is used to clock a timer which is used for both PWM generation toadjust LED brightness but also to derive the timings. A calibrationprocess can be implemented to accommodate for variations in VLOfrequency.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary LED based microphone to detect sound or noisein the room. In this embodiment, a base surface 710 supports a cylinderthat protrudes from the base surface using legs or posts 720. At oneend, a flexible membrane 730 is positioned to pick up sound and tovibrate according to noise or sound in the room. A piece oflight-reflecting metal foil 740 is positioned on one end. Speech orsound vibrates the foil 740. An LED 750 is directed at the foil 740 andthe vibration is reflected off the foil on to the same LED 750 acting asa photocell. Sound is thus captured by the LED 750 and processed by lowpower a microcontroller 760. The microcontroller 760 is Zigbeetransceiver connected to an antenna 780. Radio reflections fromoccupants in the room cause changes in the RSSI signal which is capturedand processed by the controller 780 for occupancy sensing. To aid theLED receiver in detecting the signal, the light source should be pulsedat the highest possible power level. To produce the highest possiblelight pulse intensity without burning up the LED, a low duty cycle drivemust be employed. This can be accomplished by driving the LED with highpeak currents with the shortest possible pulse widths and with thelowest practical pulse repetition rate. For standard voice systems, thetransmitter circuit can be pulsed at the rate of about 10,000 pulses persecond as long as the LED pulse width is less than about 1 microsecond.Such a driving scheme yields a duty cycle (pulse width vs. time betweenpulses) of less than 1%. However, if the optical transmitter is to beused to deliver only an on/off control signal, then a much lower pulserate frequency can be used. If a pulse repetition rate of only 50 ppswere used, it would be possible to transmit the control message withduty cycle of only 0.005%. Thus, with a 0.005% duty cycle, even if theLED is pulsed to 7 amps the average current would only be about 300 ua.Even lower average current levels are possible with simple on/offcontrol transmitters, if short multi-pulse bursts are used. To obtainthe maximum efficiency, the LED should be driven with low losstransistors. Power field effect transistors (FET) can be used toefficiently switch the required high current pulses.

In one embodiment, the LED microphone can be used with the occupancysensor or detector, providing an ideal solution for areas withobstructions like bathrooms with stalls or open office cubicle areas.This embodiment first detects motion using the wireless radar system andthen engages the LED microphone to listen for continued occupancy. Thesystem can tune the sound detection to sudden noise changes only andfilters out the background “white” noise.

In another embodiment, the LED microphone can be used with the LEDambient light detector or sunlight sensor/detector. This embodimentfirst detects ambient room light condition using the LED light sensorand then engages the LED microphone to listen for continued occupancy.The system can tune the sound detection to sudden noise changes only andfilters out the background “white” noise.

In another embodiment, the LED microphone can be used with the LED lightdetector and the LED occupancy sensor or detector. This embodiment firstdetects if sufficient light exists, then detects people's motion usingthe wireless radar system and then engages the LED microphone to listenfor continued occupancy. The system can tune the sound detection tosudden noise changes only and filters out the background “white” noise.

In yet other embodiments, the clock kept by the microcontroller can beused to supplement the turn on or off of lighting or power other devicesin the room. The microcontroller can communicate with a ballast. Theballast is the unit in a fluorescent lighting system that provides powerto the fluorescent tube at the proper frequency. Located in the lamp'shousing, it is a featureless metal box containing electronic circuitry.Dimmable ballasts are an advanced design that allow lights to be tunedcontinuously from full brightness to a very low level (usually aboutfive percent of total brightness), to save electricity when less lightis needed or to reduce lighting glare.

The system can detect light, sound and people present to provide anaccurate determination of occupancy and such determination can be usedto effectively provide environmental comforts for the occupants. Oneexemplary process for room environmental control is as follows:

Check clock to see user specified appliance on-off period is met and ifso, turn appliance on or off Check room light to see if room light isbelow threshold and if so Check room microphone to see if people arepresent and if so Check occupancy sensing radar to sense motion in theroom, and if so, turn on one or more appliances such as lighting anddisplay terminals in the room. Check room temperature and turn on AC ifneeded.

A user override button is provided so that the user can manually forcethe room to turn on appliances as desired.

FIGS. 8-9 show exemplary mesh networks. Data collected and communicatedon the display 1382 of the watch as well as voice is transmitted to abase station 1390 for communicating over a network to an authorizedparty 1394. The watch and the base station is part of a mesh networkthat may communicate with a medicine cabinet to detect opening or toeach medicine container 1391 to detect medication compliance. Otherdevices include mesh network thermometers, scales, or exercise devices.The mesh network also includes a plurality of home/room appliances1392-1399. The ability to transmit voice is useful in the case thepatient has fallen down and cannot walk to the base station 1390 torequest help. Hence, in one embodiment, the watch captures voice fromthe user and transmits the voice over the Zigbee mesh network to thebase station 1390. The base station 1390 in turn dials out to anauthorized third party to allow voice communication and at the same timetransmits the collected patient vital parameter data and identifyinginformation so that help can be dispatched quickly, efficiently anderror-free. In one embodiment, the base station 1390 is a POTS telephonebase station connected to the wired phone network. In a secondembodiment, the base station 1390 can be a cellular telephone connectedto a cellular network for voice and data transmission. In a thirdembodiment, the base station 1390 can be a ZigBee, WiMAX or 802.16standard base station that can communicate VoIP and data over a widearea network. In one implementation, Zigbee or 802.15 appliancescommunicate locally and then transmits to the wide area network (WAN)such as the Internet over WiFi or WiMAX. Alternatively, the base stationcan communicate with the WAN over POTS and a wireless network such ascellular or WiMAX or both.

The above described systems can be used to energy efficient control ofappliances such as lighting or cooling/heating devices that use energyconsumption in a room. The wireless mesh network 22 allows forcontinuous connections and reconfiguration around blocked paths byhopping from node to node until a connection can be established, themesh network 22 including one or more wireless area network transceivers10 adapted to communicate data with the wireless mesh network, thetransceiver detecting motion by analyzing reflected wireless signalstrength. The appliance 20 is coupled to the transceiver 10 and theappliance is activated or deactivated in response to sensed motion inthe room based on the reflected wireless signal strength. For example,if the sensor 12 senses no motion over a period of time, the systemturns off non-essential appliances such as the lights and the fan in theroom and changes the temperate setting to the lowest cost configuration.

Because each individual emits patterns that are unique to the user, thesystem can automatically recognize the individuals based on his or heremitted pattern. A recognizer can receive user identifiablecharacteristics from the transceiver. The recognizer can be a HiddenMarkov Model (HMM) recognizer, a dynamic time warp (DTW) recognizer, aneural network, a fuzzy logic engine, or a Bayesian network recognizer,among others.

The recognizer can monitor one or more personally identifiablesignatures. For example, the transceiver identifies one person fromanother based on a heart rate signature as measured by a Doppler radar.A sound transducer such as a microphone and/or a speaker can beconnected to the wireless transceiver to communicate audio over atelephone network through the mesh network. A call center or a remotereceptionist can be linked to the transceiver to provide a humanresponse. An in-door positioning using triangulation or RSSI-basedpattern matching can communicate with one or more mesh networkappliances to provide location information. A web server can communicateover the mesh network and to a telephone network to provide informationto an authorized remote user. A wireless router can be coupled to themesh network and wherein the wireless router comprises one of: 802.11router, 802.16 router, WiFi router, WiMAX router, Bluetooth router, X10router.

A mesh network appliance can be connected to a power line to communicatedata to and from the mesh network. A smart meter can relay data to autility over the power line and the mesh network to the appliance. Thesmart meter includes bi-directional communication, power measurement andmanagement capability, software-controllable disconnect switch, andcommunication over low voltage power line. A remote processor that canremotely turn power on or off to a customer, read usage information froma meter, detect a service outage, detect the unauthorized use ofelectricity, change the maximum amount of electricity that a customercan demand at any time; and remotely change the meters billing plan fromcredit to prepay as well as from flat-rate to multi-tariff. Theappliance minimizes operating cost by shifting energy use to an off-peakperiod in response to utility pricing that varies energy cost by time ofday. A rechargeable energy reservoir such as a fuel cell or a batterycan supply energy to the appliance, and the reservoir is charged duringa utility off-peak period and used during a utility peak pricing period.Solar panels, wind mill, or other sources of renewable energy can beprovided outside the premises to generate local energy that rechargesthe reservoir or store energy in the utility grid.

The appliance's operation is customized to each individual's preferencesince the system can identify each individual through his or her heartrate signature, among others. Each user can set his or her preferencesand the system can detect the user's entry into a room and automaticallycustomizes the room to the user. For example, upon entry into a room,the network can stream the user's preferred music into a music player inthe room or alternatively can stream his or her favorite TV shows anddisplay on a screen for the user. Also, lighting level and temperaturecan be customized to the user's preferences. The bed setting can becustomized to reflect the user's preference for a soft or hard mattresssetting. The chair height, tilt/reclination and firmness can be adjustedto the user's preference. The window transparency or tint can beautomatically set to the user's preferred room brightness. Phone callscan automatically be routed to the user's current position. If there aremany people in the room, the appliance's operation is customized to aplurality of individuals in a room by clusterizing all preferences anddetermining a best fit preference from all preferences.

Since the system can track user position quite accurately, the systemcan store and analyze personal information including medicine takinghabits, eating and drinking habits, sleeping habits, or excise habits.The information can be used to track the user's general health.

For users that are at risk of stroke, the positional data, heart rate,and breathing rate/respiration rate, as well as change delta for each,can be data mined to determine the user's daily activity patterns. AHidden Markov Model (HMM) recognizer, a dynamic time warp (DTW)recognizer, a neural network, a fuzzy logic engine, or a Bayesiannetwork can be applied to the actual or the difference/change for aparticular signal, for example the heart rate or breathing rate, todetermine the likelihood of a stroke attack in one embodiment.

In another embodiment, a Doppler radar positioned near the heart canpick up the heart beat corresponding to as the S1-S4 heart sounds anddetermine the likelihood of a stroke from the heart movements thatgenerate the sound patterns for S1-S4. The progression of heart failure(HF) is typically accompanied by changes in heart sounds over time.First, an S4 heart sound may develop while the heart is still relativelyhealthy. Second, the S4 heart sound becomes more pronounced. Third, asdeterioration of the left ventricle continues, S3 heart sounds becomemore pronounced. Sometimes, this is accompanied by a decrease in S1heart sounds due to a decrease in the heart's ability to contract. Thus,ongoing or continuous monitoring of heart sounds would greatly assistcaregivers in monitoring heart disease. However, individual patients mayexhibit unique heart sounds that complicate a generalized approach toheart sound monitoring. For example, the mere presence of an S4 heartsound is not necessarily indicative of heart disease because normalpatients may have an S4 heart sound. Another complication develops if apatient experiences atrial fibrillation when an ischemia occurs. In thiscase a strong atrial contraction, and the associated S4 heart sound, islikely to be absent due to the atrial fibrillation. This results in anincrease in the S3 heart sound without an associated S4 heart sound orwithout an increase in an S4 heart sound. Therefore, the progression ofheart disease, such as HF and an ischemic event, is typically bettermonitored by establishing a patient-specific control baseline heartsound measurement and then monitoring for changes from that baseline.The baseline could be established in one or several different criteria,such as at particular physiologic or pathophysiologic state, at aspecific posture, at a particular time of day, etc.

The mesh network comprises code to store and analyze personalinformation including heart rate, respiration rate, medicine takinghabits, eating and drinking habits, sleeping habits, or excise habits,among others.

In one embodiment for home monitoring, the user's habits and movementscan be determined by the system for fall or stroke detection. This isdone by tracking location, ambulatory travel vectors and time in adatabase. If the user typically sleeps between 10 pm to 6 am, thelocation would reflect that the user's location maps to the bedroombetween 10 pm and 6 am. In one exemplary system, the system builds aschedule of the user's activity as follows:

Location Time Start Time End Heart Rate Bed room   10 pm   6 am 60-80 Gym room   6 am   7 am 90-120 Bath room   7 am 7:30 am 85-120 Diningroom 7:30 am 8:45 am 80-90  Home Office 8:45 am 11:30 am  85-100 . . . .. .

The habit tracking is adaptive in that it gradually adjusts to theuser's new habits. If there are sudden changes, the system flags thesesudden changes for follow up. For instance, if the user spends threehours in the bathroom, the system prompts the third party (such as acall center) to follow up with the patient to make sure he or she doesnot need help.

In one embodiment, data driven analyzers may be used to track thepatient's habits. These data driven analyzers may incorporate a numberof models such as parametric statistical models, non-parametricstatistical models, clustering models, nearest neighbor models,regression methods, and engineered (artificial) neural networks. Priorto operation, data driven analyzers or models of the patient's habits orambulation patterns are built using one or more training sessions. Thedata used to build the analyzer or model in these sessions are typicallyreferred to as training data. As data driven analyzers are developed byexamining only training examples, the selection of the training data cansignificantly affect the accuracy and the learning speed of the datadriven analyzer. One approach used heretofore generates a separate dataset referred to as a test set for training purposes. The test set isused to avoid overfitting the model or analyzer to the training data.Overfitting refers to the situation where the analyzer has memorized thetraining data so well that it fails to fit or categorize unseen data.Typically, during the construction of the analyzer or model, theanalyzer's performance is tested against the test set. The selection ofthe analyzer or model parameters is performed iteratively until theperformance of the analyzer in classifying the test set reaches anoptimal point. At this point, the training process is completed. Analternative to using an independent training and test set is to use amethodology called cross-validation. Cross-validation can be used todetermine parameter values for a parametric analyzer or model for anon-parametric analyzer. In cross-validation, a single training data setis selected. Next, a number of different analyzers or models are builtby presenting different parts of the training data as test sets to theanalyzers in an iterative process. The parameter or model structure isthen determined on the basis of the combined performance of all modelsor analyzers. Under the cross-validation approach, the analyzer or modelis typically retrained with data using the determined optimal modelstructure.

In general, multiple dimensions of a user's daily activities such asstart and stop times of interactions of different interactions areencoded as distinct dimensions in a database. A predictive model,including time series models such as those employing autoregressionanalysis and other standard time series methods, dynamic Bayesiannetworks and Continuous Time Bayesian Networks, or temporalBayesian-network representation and reasoning methodology, is built, andthen the model, in conjunction with a specific query makes targetinferences.

Bayesian networks provide not only a graphical, easily interpretablealternative language for expressing background knowledge, but they alsoprovide an inference mechanism; that is, the probability of arbitraryevents can be calculated from the model. Intuitively, given a Bayesiannetwork, the task of mining interesting unexpected patterns can berephrased as discovering item sets in the data which are much more—ormuch less—frequent than the background knowledge suggests. These casesare provided to a learning and inference subsystem, which constructs aBayesian network that is tailored for a target prediction. The Bayesiannetwork is used to build a cumulative distribution over events ofinterest.

In another embodiment, a genetic algorithm (GA) search technique can beused to find approximate solutions to identifying the user's habits.Genetic algorithms are a particular class of evolutionary algorithmsthat use techniques inspired by evolutionary biology such asinheritance, mutation, natural selection, and recombination (orcrossover). Genetic algorithms are typically implemented as a computersimulation in which a population of abstract representations (calledchromosomes) of candidate solutions (called individuals) to anoptimization problem evolves toward better solutions. Traditionally,solutions are represented in binary as strings of 0s and 1s, butdifferent encodings are also possible. The evolution starts from apopulation of completely random individuals and happens in generations.In each generation, the fitness of the whole population is evaluated,multiple individuals are stochastically selected from the currentpopulation (based on their fitness), modified (mutated or recombined) toform a new population, which becomes current in the next iteration ofthe algorithm.

The system allows patients to conduct a low-cost, comprehensive,real-time monitoring of their parameters such as ambulation and falls.Information can be viewed using an Internet-based website, a personalcomputer, or simply by viewing a display on the monitor. Data measuredseveral times each day provide a relatively comprehensive data setcompared to that measured during medical appointments separated byseveral weeks or even months. This allows both the patient and medicalprofessional to observe trends in the data, such as a gradual increaseor decrease in blood pressure, which may indicate a medical condition.The invention also minimizes effects of white coat syndrome since themonitor automatically makes measurements with basically no discomfort;measurements are made at the patient's home or work, rather than in amedical office. The user may give permission to others as needed to reador edit their personal data or receive alerts. The user or cliniciancould have a list of people that they want to monitor and have it showon their “My Account” page, which serves as a local central monitoringstation in one embodiment. Each person may be assigned different accessrights which may be more or less than the access rights that the patienthas. For example, a doctor or clinician could be allowed to edit datafor example to annotate it, while the patient would have read-onlyprivileges for certain pages. An authorized person could set thereminders and alerts parameters with limited access to others.

The server may communicate with a business process outsourcing (BPO)company or a call center to provide central monitoring in an environmentwhere a small number of monitoring agents can cost effectively monitormultiple people 24 hours a day. A call center agent, a clinician or anursing home manager may monitor a group or a number of users via asummary “dashboard” of their readings data, with ability to drill-downinto details for the collected data. A clinician administrator maymonitor the data for and otherwise administer a number of users of thesystem. A summary “dashboard” of readings from all Patients assigned tothe Administrator is displayed upon log in to the Portal by theAdministrator. Readings may be color coded to visually distinguishnormal vs. readings that have generated an alert, along with descriptionof the alert generated. The Administrator may drill down into thedetails for each Patient to further examine the readings data, viewcharts etc. in a manner similar to the Patient's own use of the system.The Administrator may also view a summary of all the appliancesregistered to all assigned Patients, including but not limited to allappliance identification information. The Administrator has access onlyto information about Patients that have been assigned to theAdministrator by a Super Administrator. This allows for segmenting theentire population of monitored Patients amongst multiple Administrators.The Super Administrator may assign, remove and/or reassign Patientsamongst a number of Administrators.

In one embodiment, the server provides a web services that communicatewith third party software through an interface. In one implementation,telephones and switching systems in call centers are integrated with thehome mesh network to provide for, among other things, better routing oftelephone calls, faster delivery of telephone calls and associatedinformation, and improved service with regard to client satisfactionthrough computer-telephony integration (CTI). CTI implementations ofvarious design and purpose are implemented both within individualcall-centers and, in some cases, at the telephone network level. Forexample, processors running CTI software applications may be linked totelephone switches, service control points (SCPs), and network entrypoints within a public or private telephone network. At the call-centerlevel, CTI-enhanced processors, data servers, transaction servers, andthe like, are linked to telephone switches and, in some cases, tosimilar CTI hardware at the network level, often by a dedicated digitallink. CTI processors and other hardware within a call-center is commonlyreferred to as customer premises equipment (CPE). It is the CTIprocessor and application software is such centers that providescomputer enhancement to a call center. In a CTI-enhanced call center,telephones at agent stations are connected to a central telephonyswitching apparatus, such as an automatic call distributor (ACD) switchor a private branch exchange (PBX). The agent stations may also beequipped with computer terminals such as personal computer/video displayunit's (PC/VDU's) so that agents manning such stations may have accessto stored data as well as being linked to incoming callers by telephoneequipment. Such stations may be interconnected through the PC/VDUs by alocal area network (LAN). One or more data or transaction servers mayalso be connected to the LAN that interconnects agent stations. The LANis, in turn, typically connected to the CTI processor, which isconnected to the call switching apparatus of the call center.

When a call from a patient arrives at a call center, whether or not thecall has been pre-processed at an SCP, the telephone number of thecalling line and the medical record are made available to the receivingswitch at the call center by the network provider. This service isavailable by most networks as caller-ID information in one of severalformats such as Automatic Number Identification (ANI). Typically thenumber called is also available through a service such as Dialed NumberIdentification Service (DNIS). If the call center is computer-enhanced(CTI), the phone number of the calling party may be used as a key toaccess additional medical and/or historical information from a customerinformation system (CIS) database at a server on the network thatconnects the agent workstations. In this manner information pertinent toa call may be provided to an agent, often as a screen pop on the agent'sPC/VDU.

The call center enables any of a first plurality of physician or healthcare practitioner terminals to be in audio communication over thenetwork with any of a second plurality of patient wearable appliances.The call center will route the call to a physician or other health carepractitioner at a physician or health care practitioner terminal andinformation related to the patient (such as an electronic medicalrecord) will be received at the physician or health care practitionerterminal via the network. The information may be forwarded via acomputer or database in the practicing physician's office or by acomputer or database associated with the practicing physician, a healthcare management system or other health care facility or an insuranceprovider. The physician or health care practitioner is then permitted toassess the patient, to treat the patient accordingly, and to forwardupdated information related to the patient (such as examination,treatment and prescription details related to the patient's visit to thepatient terminal) to the practicing physician via the network 200.

In one embodiment, the wireless nodes convert freely available energyinherent in most operating environments into conditioned electricalpower. Energy harvesting is defined as the conversion of ambient energyinto usable electrical energy. When compared with the energy stored incommon storage elements, like batteries and the like, the environmentrepresents a relatively inexhaustible source of energy. Energyharvesters can be based on piezoelectric devices, solar cells orelectromagnetic devices that convert mechanical vibrations.

Power generation with piezoelectrics can be done with vibrations on theair vent. The vibration energy harvester consists of three main parts. Apiezoelectric transducer (PZT) serves as the energy conversion device, aspecialized power converter rectifies the resulting voltage, and acapacitor or battery stores the power. The PZT takes the form of analuminum cantilever with a piezoelectric patch. The vibration-inducedstrain in the PZT produces an ac voltage. The system repeatedly chargesa battery or capacitor, which then operates the motor and/or othersensors at a relatively low duty cycle. The energy is converted andstored in a low-leakage charge circuit until a predetermined thresholdvoltage is reached. Once the threshold is reached, the regulated poweris allowed to flow for a sufficient period to power the wireless nodesuch as the Zigbee CPU/transceiver. The transmission is detected bynearby wireless nodes that are AC-powered and forwarded to the basestation for signal processing. Power comes from the vibration of thesystem being monitored and the unit requires no maintenance, thusreducing life-cycle costs. In one embodiment, the housing of the unitcan be PZT composite, thus reducing the weight.

For wireless nodes that require more power, electromagnetics, includingcoils, magnets, and a resonant beam, and micro-generators can be used toproduce electricity from readily available vibratory sources. Typically,a transmitter needs about 30 mW, but the device transmits for only tensof milliseconds, and a capacitor in the circuit can be charged usingharvested energy and the capacitor energy drives the wirelesstransmission, which is the heaviest power requirement. Electromagneticenergy harvesting uses a magnetic field to convert mechanical energy toelectrical. A coil attached to the oscillating mass traverses through amagnetic field that is established by a stationary magnet. The coiltravels through a varying amount of magnetic flux, inducing a voltageaccording to Faraday's law. The induced voltage is inherently small andmust therefore be increased to viably source energy. Methods to increasethe induced voltage include using a transformer, increasing the numberof turns of the coil, and/or increasing the permanent magnetic field.Electromagnetic devices use the motion of a magnet relative to a wirecoil to generate an electric voltage. A permanent magnet is placedinside a wound coil. As the magnet is moved through the coil it causes achanging magnetic flux. This flux is responsible for generating thevoltage which collects on the coil terminals. This voltage can then besupplied to an electrical load. Because an electromagnetic device needsa magnet to be sliding through the coil to produce voltage, energyharvesting through vibrations is an ideal application. In oneembodiment, electromagnetic devices are placed inside the heel of ashoe. One implementation uses a sliding magnet-coil design, the other,opposing magnets with one fixed and one free to move inside the coil. Ifthe length of the coil is increased, which increases the turns, thedevice is able to produce more power.

In an electrostatic (capacitive) embodiment, energy harvesting relies onthe changing capacitance of vibration-dependant varactors. A varactor,or variable capacitor, is initially charged and, as its plates separatebecause of vibrations, mechanical energy is transformed into electricalenergy. MEMS variable capacitors are fabricated through siliconmicro-machining techniques.

In another embodiment, the wireless node can be powered from thermaland/or kinetic energy. Temperature differentials between oppositesegments of a conducting material result in heat flow and consequentlycharge flow, since mobile, high-energy carriers diffuse from high to lowconcentration regions. Thermopiles consisting of n- and p-type materialselectrically joined at the high-temperature junction are thereforeconstructed, allowing heat flow to carry the dominant charge carriers ofeach material to the low temperature end, establishing in the process avoltage difference across the base electrodes. The generated voltage andpower is proportional to the temperature differential and the Seebeckcoefficient of the thermoelectric materials. Body heat from a user'swrist is captured by a thermoelectric element whose output is boostedand used to charge the a lithium ion rechargeable battery. The unitutilizes the Seeback Effect which describes the voltage created when atemperature difference exists across two different metals. Thethermoelectric generator takes body heat and dissipates it to theambient air, creating electricity in the process.

Another embodiment extracts energy from the surrounding environmentusing a small rectanna (microwave-power receivers or ultrasound powerreceivers) placed in patches or membranes on the skin or alternativelyinjected underneath the skin. The rectanna converts the received emittedpower back to usable low frequency/dc power. A basic rectanna consistsof an antenna, a low pass filter, an ac/dc converter and a dc bypassfilter. The rectanna can capture renewable electromagnetic energyavailable in the radio frequency (RF) bands such as AM radio, FM radio,TV, very high frequency (VHF), ultra high frequency (UHF), global systemfor mobile communications (GSM), digital cellular systems (DCS) andespecially the personal communication system (PCS) bands, and unlicensedISM bands such as 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands, among others. The systemcaptures the ubiquitous electromagnetic energy (ambient RF noise andsignals) opportunistically present in the environment and transformingthat energy into useful electrical power. The energy-harvesting antennais preferably designed to be a wideband, omnidirectional antenna orantenna array that has maximum efficiency at selected bands offrequencies containing the highest energy levels. In a system with anarray of antennas, each antenna in the array can be designed to havemaximum efficiency at the same or different bands of frequency from oneanother. The collected RF energy is then converted into usable DC powerusing a diode-type or other suitable rectifier. This power may be usedto drive, for example, an amplifier/filter module connected to a secondantenna system that is optimized for a particular frequency andapplication. One antenna system can act as an energy harvester while theother antenna acts as a signal transmitter/receiver. The antenna circuitelements are formed using standard wafer manufacturing techniques. Theantenna output is stepped up and rectified before presented to a tricklecharger. The charger can recharge a complete battery by providing alarger potential difference between terminals and more power forcharging during a period of time. If battery includes individualmicro-battery cells, the trickle charger provides smaller amounts ofpower to each individual battery cell, with the charging proceeding on acell by cell basis. Charging of the battery cells continues wheneverambient power is available. As the load depletes cells, depleted cellsare switched out with charged cells. The rotation of depleted cells andcharged cells continues as required. Energy is banked and managed on amicro-cell basis.

In a solar cell embodiment, photovoltaic cells convert incident lightinto electrical energy. Each cell consists of a reverse biased pn+junction, where light interfaces with the heavily doped and narrow n+region. Photons are absorbed within the depletion region, generatingelectron-hole pairs. The built-in electric field of the junctionimmediately separates each pair, accumulating electrons and holes in then+ and p-regions, respectively, and establishing in the process an opencircuit voltage. With a load connected, accumulated electrons travelthrough the load and recombine with holes at the p-side, generating aphotocurrent that is directly proportional to light intensity andindependent of cell voltage.

As the energy-harvesting sources supply energy in irregular, random“bursts,” an intermittent charger waits until sufficient energy isaccumulated in a specially designed transitional storage such as acapacitor before attempting to transfer it to the storage device,lithium-ion battery, in this case. Moreover, the system must partitionits functions into time slices (time-division multiplex), ensuringenough energy is harvested and stored in the battery before engaging inpower-sensitive tasks. Energy can be stored using a secondary(rechargeable) battery and/or a supercapacitor. The differentcharacteristics of batteries and supercapacitors make them suitable fordifferent functions of energy storage. Supercapacitors provide the mostvolumetrically efficient approach to meeting high power pulsed loads. Ifthe energy must be stored for a long time, and released slowly, forexample as back up, a battery would be the preferred energy storagedevice. If the energy must be delivered quickly, as in a pulse for RFcommunications, but long term storage is not critical, a supercapacitorwould be sufficient. The system can employ i) a battery (or severalbatteries), ii) a supercapacitor (or supercapacitors), or iii) acombination of batteries and supercapacitors appropriate for theapplication of interest. In one embodiment, a microbattery and amicrosupercapacitor can be used to store energy. Like batteries,supercapacitors are electrochemical devices; however, rather thangenerating a voltage from a chemical reaction, supercapacitors storeenergy by separating charged species in an electrolyte. In oneembodiment, a flexible, thin-film, rechargeable battery from CymbetCorp. of Elk River, Minn. provides 3.6V and can be recharged by areader. The battery cells can be from 5 to 25 microns thick. Thebatteries can be recharged with solar energy, or can be recharged byinductive coupling. The tag is put within range of a coil attached to anenergy source. The coil “couples” with the antenna on the RFID tag,enabling the tag to draw energy from the magnetic field created by thetwo coils.

As one of average skill in the art will appreciate, the wirelesscommunication devices described above may be implemented using one ormore integrated circuits. For example, a host device may be implementedon one integrated circuit, the baseband processing module may beimplemented on a second integrated circuit, and the remaining componentsof the radio, less the antennas, may be implemented on a thirdintegrated circuit. As an alternate example, the radio may beimplemented on a single integrated circuit. As yet another example, theprocessing module of the host device and the baseband processing modulemay be a common processing device implemented on a single integratedcircuit.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary air register 1000. The air register 1000 hasa face plate 1020 with a plurality of outlets 1021 and a handle 1022 fora user to manually adjust vent openings and adjust air flow as desired.The handle 1022 is supplemented by a wirelessly controlled actuator suchas a motor, as described in more details below. The air register 1000can be made of lightweight plastic, aluminum, or other metal. Screwholes can be placed anywhere along the side margin of the air register1000 for installation of the device on existing register slots.

FIG. 11 shows a side view of the register of FIG. 10. An actuator 1100is mounted above the face place 1020 and pivotably connected to thehandle 1022. The actuator 1100 can be a motor, solenoid, or anelectrical latch, for example. As shown in FIG. 11, a plurality of ventblades 1024 are in the OPEN position to allow air flow to traverse theregister 1000. In this manner, either a user or the actuator 1100 canopen/close the vent blades 1024. In one embodiment, to provide forattractive styling, the register depth or thickness dimension has beenmade as shallow as permissible by the size of the actuating lever 1022,yet without having the actuating lever exposed.

To permit the size and shape of air register to be as compact asdesired, it is important that the individual components within theactuator 1100 be low profile. In practical reality, this concern is onlyimportant in respect to the battery and the motor. The electrical powerrequired to be supplied from the built-in battery must be modest enoughto permit this battery to be small enough to reasonably fit within thedesired specified dimensions of the controller means. Similarly, themechanical power required to be supplied by the built-in motor must bemodest enough to permit this motor to be small enough to reasonably fitwithin the specified dimensions.

Since a certain amount of energy is required to effect actuation of theactuation lever, the power required is inversely proportional to thetime allowed to effect this actuation. Thus, by way of a speed-reducinggear mechanism, it becomes possible to actuate the actuation lever at anarbitrarily small power level.

By allowing complete OPEN-to-CLOSED and CLOSED-to-OPEN actuation to takeplace over a period of some ten seconds from start to finish, the motorpower output requirement gets to be acceptably modest; and actuation canthen readily be accomplished by way of a substantially conventionalminiature DC motor.

As another consequence of allowing as long as ten seconds to effect fullactuation of the air register, the electrical power required by themotor now becomes adequately modest to permit the use of two AA sizebatteries. Thus, by trading time for power, the motor and a gear can bemade small and require low power to move the vent blades. In anotherembodiment, a supercapacitor can be used. In another embodiment, solarcells can provide power to actuate the air register.

FIGS. 12A-12D show exemplary control electronics for the air register1000. Turning now FIG. 12A, a single chip 1100 that contains aprocessor, ROM/RAM, and a Zigbee transceiver is connected to an antenna1111. The control chip 1100 is connected to a driver 1112 which isconnected to an actuator 1114 such as a motor that actuates movement bythe air register 1000. One exemplary single chip device is the TexasInstrument CC2530, which is a true system-on-chip (SoC) solution forIEEE 802.15.4, Zigbee and RF4CE applications. It enables robust networknodes to be built with very low total bill-of-material costs. The CC2530combines the excellent performance of a leading RF transceiver with anindustry-standard enhanced 8051 MCU, in-system programmable flashmemory, 8-KB RAM, and many other powerful features. The CC2530 comes infour different flash versions: CC2530F32/64/128/256, with 32/64/128/256KB of flash memory, respectively. The CC2530 has various operatingmodes, making it highly suited for systems where ultralow powerconsumption is required. Short transition times between operating modesfurther ensure low energy consumption.

FIG. 12B shows another embodiment similar to FIG. 12A, with the additionof a temperature sensor 1140 and an occupancy sensor 1130. The occupancysensor 1130 can be a conventional PIR sensor or can be the radar likeecho-location described above. In one embodiment, if the occupancysensor 1130 determines that the room is empty, the vents can be closedto save energy. The temperature sensor 1140 compares room temperature todesired room-temperature and causes the processor to open or close thevent in the air register as desired. A solar cell 111A harvests sunlightand charges the power 1110 which can be a battery or a super-capacitor.

FIG. 12D shows another embodiment where an energy harvester 1111 is usedto supply energy to the power 1110. The energy harvester can bepiezoelectric that converts vibrations into energy, or can be any othersuitable renewable energy source.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary mounting of solar cells 1150 for the systemof FIG. 12C. The solar cells 1150 can be positioned around a face plate1020 of the air register.

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary mounting of heater/cooler 1202 and a fan 1200above the faceplate 1020.

FIG. 15A shows an embodiment with an air filter, while FIG. 15B shows anembodiment where one or more scent reservoirs can be mixed to provide anappropriate scent for a desired room.

The embodiment of FIG. 15A provides supplemental filters 1300 for theduct outlets of a forced air heating system effective to reducesubstantially the amount of soot and dirt transmitted from a warm airregister into the room. Consumers can select different filter materialsto fit individual needs such as pollen and/or odor reduction and to fitthe type of heating system used in the individual's home or apartment.The supplemental filter can be changed quickly and easily whileminimizing the amount of dust and dirt which can escape the filterduring replacement. In this manner, disposable filters impregnated withparticular materials, such as activated carbon, remove selectedparticles or odors, such as cigarette smoke, from the air beingtransmitted by the forced air duct. Heated or cooled air streamefficiently disperses air freshening scent throughout the room.

FIG. 15B shows another embodiment that provides an air freshening systemwhich can be readily controlled as to type of scent and as to theintensity of a particular type of scent within a room. In thisembodiment, one or more electrically actuated chemical reservoirs injectpredetermined fragrance(s) into the filter 1300 to provide appropriatescents for the room. In one implementation, the scent(s) can becontrolled to match a particular ambience rendered by a stereo system1330 and a display 1340. Such a system enables an occupant to enjoy arealistic virtual reality immersive presence. For example, the display1340 can project an HD video loop of an ocean view and the stereo 1330can play the sound of crashing waves and the chemical reservoirs 1320can emit a fresh ocean smell that is synchronized with the sound tosimulate sea breezes driven by the fan 1200.

The processor can communicate with a remote server for configuration andfor reporting usage and controlling the motors. One embodiment uses acloud-based server system such as the Digi X-Grid system that enablesthe utility and home owner to accurately manage energy consumption downto an individual home level, providing pre-developed tools that enablethe homeowner to view and effectively manage their real-time loadinformation for their HAN. Digi X-Grid solutions allow the utility toremotely manage any diagnostics required of smart meters or devices onthe HAN.

-   -   Provide real-time access to the HAN    -   Enable remote diagnostics of smart meters and other HAN Devices    -   Immediately scalable solution    -   Easy, out-of-the-box set up

In one embodiment, the processor runs the ZigBee Smart Energy Profile,which defines a wireless home area network (HAN) to manage energy inresidential areas. These networks are local to the home and connectthrough a gateway back to a Utility head-end application.

The current devices defined for Smart Energy are:

-   -   Meter—Reports consumption of energy, water, gas, etc.    -   Energy Service Interface—Gateway from the Utility head-end to        the HAN.    -   In-Premise Display—Displays consumption and pricing information        for the consumer.    -   Programmable Communicating Thermostat (PCT)—Smart thermostat.    -   Load Control Device—Can limit or turn off power to devices        during high load times.    -   Range Extender—Fills in gaps in wireless HAN.

One implementation works with the Digi ConnectPort X2 for Smart Energy,which is a gateway on a Smart Energy network that provides secure accessto a ZigBee Smart Energy network over the internet. The gateway is setup to take advantage of connection management services offered by theiDigi platform, and to intelligently handle Smart Energy events in orderto reduce the need for communication and micro management by utilityapplications. The server provides a REST-style API over HTTP (or HTTPS).Users can write HTTP clients in a preferred programming language thatget data from the platform and use or display the data in the way thatthey desire. Examples of such clients include Web pages and programswritten in a language such as Python or Java. These clients sendrequests to the server using standard HTTP requests. The HTTP requeststhat the iDigi platform supports are GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE. Theserver supports basic HTTP authentication and only valid users canaccess the database. To reduce the authentication overhead of multiplerequests, either use an HTTP library that caches cookies, or cache thecookies JSESSIONID and SID. Once the data is retrieved from the server,it can be used to do calculations, display graphs, monitor appliances,among others.

A Link Key Database (LKDB) can be used for reducing the complexity ofcommissioning a Smart Energy ZigBee network requiring the use of a linkkey without compromising security. The system eliminates the need for aconsumer or installer to enter long alpha-numeric strings into aninstallation user interface, or communicate that data over the phonegiven that both processes are extremely error prone. The LKDB providesthe means for an installation and commissioning application to acquirethe necessary link key information to allow requesting ZigBee nodes tojoin the network upon the approval of the consumer or installer. In thisprocess

1. A customer or installer can login to an installation applicationwhich is communicating with the trust center of the ZigBee network (i.e.the coordinator).

2. The customer installs their new Smart Energy device and attempts tojoin the network.

3. The trust center notifies the installation application that is sees anode attempting to join the network and provides the EUI-64 address ofthat node.

4. The installation application makes a secure connection to the LKDB,requesting the link key and any other meta-data associated with thatEUI.

Assuming the link key had been primed in the LKDB, the installationapplication prompts the customer or installer with the followinginformation associated with the EUI and any pertinent manufacturerinformation:

“The following device is attempting to join the ZigBee network (Providethe EUI and manufacturer info). I have the appropriate information tocomplete the join process, would you like to allow this device on yournetwork?”

This provides a cleaner alternative to requiring the consumer orinstaller to enter the full EUI-64 and install code into the UI.

One advantage to using the cloud-based energy service is that theGateway and server work as a cohesive unit. This means that when theserver encounters a new Gateway, it discovers all of the Smart Energydevices, clusters and attributes and allows the system to enablereporting at the gateway level for any attributes for which periodicupdates are desired. These updates are automatically transmitted to theserver from the gateway and stored in the Smart Energy Attribute DataCache and the system can make requests from your application to retrievedata in a variety of ways:

-   -   The system can retrieve data samples at a periodic interval for        a single device, list of devices or all devices in an account    -   The system can retrieve historical data samples to retrieve data        from the application less frequently    -   The system can request data based on the two previous scenarios        for a single device, list of devices or all devices in an        account.

“Computer readable media” can be any available media that can beaccessed by client/server devices. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile andnonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any methodor technology for storage of information such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computerstorage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flashmemory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other mediumwhich can be used to store the desired information and which can beaccessed by client/server devices. Communication media typicallyembodies computer readable instructions, data structures, programmodules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier waveor other transport mechanism and includes any information deliverymedia.

All references including patent applications and publications citedherein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and forall purposes to the same extent as if each individual publication orpatent or patent application was specifically and individually indicatedto be incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Manymodifications and variations of this invention can be made withoutdeparting from its spirit and scope, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. The specific embodiments described herein areoffered by way of example only. The above specification, examples anddata provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of thecomposition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the inventioncan be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described withreferences to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A system to control energy consumption in a building having aplurality of rooms, comprising: a wireless data transceiver; anoccupancy sensor; a temperature sensor; a processor coupled to thewireless data transceiver, the occupancy sensor and the temperaturesensor; and an air register including a motor coupled to the processor,the motor opening or closing one or more air vents in response to sensedmotion or room temperature.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the airregister is closed when the room is empty.
 3. The system of claim 1,comprising a smart meter coupled to the appliance, wherein the smartmeter includes bi-directional communication, power measurement andmanagement capability, software-controllable disconnect switch, andcommunication over low voltage power line.
 4. The system of claim 1,comprising a thermostat to set room temperature.
 5. The system of claim4, wherein the thermostat wirelessly communicates with the datatransceiver.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processorcommunicates with an online weather service for predicted weathercondition.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor pre-chargesroom temperature in response to a demand response signal or apredetermined pattern.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processorminimizes operating cost by shifting energy use to an off-peak period inresponse to utility pricing that varies energy cost by time of day. 9.The system of claim 1, comprising an energy harvester coupled to theprocessor.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the energy harvestercomprises a solar cell.
 11. The system of claim 1, comprising a heatingventilation air conditioning (HVAC) device coupled to a rechargeableenergy reservoir, wherein the reservoir is charged during a utilityoff-peak period and used to power the HVAC device during a utility peakpricing period.
 12. The system of claim 1, comprising a recognizercoupled to the transceiver including one of: a Hidden Markov Model (HMM)recognizer, a dynamic time warp (DTW) recognizer, a neural network, afuzzy logic engine, a Bayesian network.
 13. The system of claim 1,wherein the occupancy sensor comprises an analyzer to process an RSSIsignal from the wireless data transceiver to detect occupancy in thearea.
 14. The system of claim 1, comprising a light emitting diodecoupled to the processor to detect light, wherein the processordetermines lighting profiles that incorporate time-based control withoccupancy, daylighting, and manual control and wherein the processorintegrates time-based lighting control with occupancy sensing control.15. The system of claim 1, comprising a heater proximal to the air vent.16. The system of claim 1, comprising an air conditioner or coolerproximal to the air vent.
 17. The system of claim 1, comprising a fanproximal to the air vent.
 18. The system of claim 1, comprising an airfilter proximal to the air vent.
 19. The system of claim 18, comprisingone or more scent chemical reservoirs coupled to the air filter.
 20. Thesystem of claim 1, comprising a stereo system and a display to providean immersive virtual reality experience.